The start of the 2024-25 NBA regular season is just two weeks away, and NBA.com held its annual survey of executives across the league. This survey asked a number of questions about various teams and players, and although the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t come up a ton in the responses, they were on the radar a bit.
Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis continues to get overlooked and even disrespected across the league, even though that disrespect may have subsided a bit in recent months. The executives polled in this survey may be guilty of overlooking and even disrespecting him.
When asked who is the best power forward in the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks won handily with 77% of the vote, which is very understandable. But Davis didn’t even finish second — he was listed among the players under “also receiving votes.”
One could make a strong argument that Davis is the best overall defensive player in the NBA. He’s not only a very good rim protector, but he can also come out onto the perimeter and switch on to players of virtually any size and position. Yet he got few votes from executives who were asked who was the league’s best defender.
San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama got the most votes. Davis, on the other hand, was only tied for fifth along with Antetokounmpo and Herb Jones with a mere 7% of the vote.
Even when executives were asked to name the NBA’s best interior defender, Davis finished third with 10% of the balloting behind Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert. He didn’t even get any votes from executives when they were asked who the game’s most versatile defender is.
Perhaps it will take Davis having another outstanding season while staying relatively healthy for him to gain the respect he deserves.